Every performance here was filmed live in concert. The Chicago items are from 1976–80, while the fourth disc is with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1995. The latter includes nearly half an hour’s worth of rehearsal excerpts. Recorded sound is generally excellent across the board, as is the competent and unobtrusive camerawork. Picture quality varies: the Chicago tapes are a bit dated, with some color saturation and a few “ghost” images (but there’s nothing objectionable), while the later Vienna tapes are close to state of the art.

I must confess up front that I’ve never been a great fan of Solti’s conducting. While I still own a number of his recordings (e.g., his first-ever stereo Wagner Ring on old London LPs, some live offerings on various Chicago Symphony CD sets), Solti has always struck me as rather unsubtle, too energetic, excessively straightforward, and thus uninteresting as an interpreter. However, despite my bias, I found a great deal to enjoy in this DVD set. His Chicago readings feature first-class execution, and the orchestra obviously enjoys playing under him. Very few (if any) of today’s conductors can match Solti’s razor-sharp attacks and undeniable enthusiasm for making music.

All the Rossini items are exceptionally well played. The performances may lack the wit of Beecham or the more earthy approach heard from various Italian conductors, but on their own terms these readings are brilliant. Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” and “Italian” Symphonies are less hectic than his 1950s studio accounts on a Decca CD (reviewed by me in Fanfare 30:2). A brief taped interview with Solti about Bruckner proves to be more interesting than the actual performances: the Sixth is ultra-straight and the brass unbearably loud, while the Seventh didn’t register with me one way or the other (it’s from the Royal Albert Hall in London; all the other CSO concerts originate at Orchestra Hall in Chicago). The Wagner overtures and the pair of Strauss tone poems are stunningly played, if a bit too aggressive for my taste (they are greeted by roars of approval from the audiences). Kyung Wha Chung is proficient but not all that illuminating in the Violin Concerto. I was quite taken with Lucia’s Popp’s rendition of Strauss’s Four Last Songs, though Solti tends to overwhelm her somewhat small-scale voice in a few passages.

What really motivates me to give this set a strong recommendation are the late recordings at Vienna. Much as I admire Chicago’s strings, their Viennese counterparts are in another league altogether. Solti here is more relaxed and often downright amiable: his readings of Berlioz, Bartók, Kodály, and the under-rated Leó Weiner could hardly be more idiomatic. The Beethoven is full of life and gorgeously played. The final rehearsal excerpts are magical. These are among the finest and most revealing sessions I’ve encountered, and Solti turns out to be an engaging and delightfully funny raconteur. Firmly recommended.